Bertrand Russell was born on May 18, 1872, at Ravenscroft, Trellech, Monmouthshire.
He was the Third Earl Russell but he always liked being called Bertrand even after he inherited his title.
The Russells had been prominent for several centuries in Britain, and were one of Britain's leading Whig / Liberal families.
Bertrand's paternal grandfather, Lord John Russell introduced the 1832 Reform Bill and started Britain on the road to democracy. He was twice asked by Queen Victoria to form a government, serving her as Prime Minister in the 1840s and 1860s.
His father, Viscount Amberley, was a freethinker who among other things, consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor, the biologist Douglas Spalding. Amberley ruined his parliamentary career by advocating atheism and birth control for women.
Bertrand's mother, Viscountess Amberley was also from an aristocratic family, and was the sister of Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle.
His godfather was John Stuart Mill. The Utilitarian philosopher was Russell's greatest teenage influence .
In June 1874 Bertrand's mother died of diphtheria. A year and a half later, his father died of bronchitis following a long period of depression.
After his parents' premature deaths, Russell and his older brother, Frank, the future 2nd Earl, were raised by their staunchly Victorian grandparents, Lord Russell, the former Prime Minister, and his second wife, the Countess Russell, nee Lady Frances Elliot.
Bertrand also had a sister Rachel who died when he was an infant.
The Countess Russell was from a Scottish Presbyterian family, and her influence on Bertrand's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life.
Young Bertrand was raised as an aristocrat, he was a silent and shy boy.
Russell's childhood was very lonely and he often contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that only his keen interest in mathematics seemed to keep him interested in living.
Bertrand was educated at home by a series of governesses, and he spent countless hours in his grandfather's library.
His brother Frank introduced him to Euclid, which transformed Russell's life.
Bertrand was fascinated by figures but his grandmother did not allow the governesses to teach him maths so he had to study it secretly
Russell studied philosophy and logic at Cambridge University, starting in 1890, where he became acquainted with the younger G.E. Moore, and where he later came under the influence of Alfred North Whitehead. He quickly distinguished himself in mathematics and philosophy.
Russell took Mathematics honors in 1893 and graduated in 1894, surprisingly with only a third.
For two years after graduation, Russell lectured in the United States before returning home to a lectureship at the London School of Economics.
In 1907 Russell ran for Parliament as a candidate of the Union of Woman's Suffrage Societies. He lost by 7000 votes.
Three years later, Russell attempted to be adopted as a Liberal candidate but his constituency association refused him when they discovered he was an agnostic.
Russell took up a job as a Maths Lecturer at Trinity College Cambridge in 1910. Until the outbreak of World War 1, Russell was an academic who was revolutionizing the study of mathematics, but due to his vocal opposition to the war he became an outsider and he lost his job in 1914.
In 1920, Russell traveled to Russia and subsequently lectured in Peking (now Beijing) on philosophy for one year. The Chinese loved the British lecturer as he considered the Chinese problems from a Chinese point of view rather than the imperialistic English. His Peking University students even launched a special Russell magazine.
In 1922-23 Russell ran as Labour candidate for Chelsea. However, it was a safe Tory seat and was easily defeated by the Conservative candidate Sir Samuel Hoare.
Throughout the remainder of the 1920s, Russell supported himself during this time by writing popular books explaining matters of physics, ethics and education to the layman.
Russell set up the experimental Beacon Hill School, near Petersfield, Hampshire on 1927, which allowed children complete freedom in expressing and behaving themselves. In other words, rather than repress their feelings they could swear at their teachers etc. At Russell's school there was mixed naked bathing, no punishment and no religious instruction. The school was a failure as mainly unruly children who had been expelled from other schools were sent there.
Upon the death of his elder brother Frank, in 1931, Russell became 3rd Earl Russell. He once said that his title was primarily useful for securing hotel rooms and the like.
In 1938 Russell moved to the United States where he taught at many universities and wrote his History of Western Philosophy.
In the spring of 1939, Russell moved to Santa Barbara to lecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was appointed professor at the City College of New York shortly thereafter, but after public outcries, the appointment was annulled by the courts. Russell returned to Britain in 1944 and he rejoined the faculty of Trinity College.
He was the Third Earl Russell but he always liked being called Bertrand even after he inherited his title.
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| Bertrand Russell portrait. |
FAMILY BACKGROUND
The Russells had been prominent for several centuries in Britain, and were one of Britain's leading Whig / Liberal families.
Bertrand's paternal grandfather, Lord John Russell introduced the 1832 Reform Bill and started Britain on the road to democracy. He was twice asked by Queen Victoria to form a government, serving her as Prime Minister in the 1840s and 1860s.
His father, Viscount Amberley, was a freethinker who among other things, consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor, the biologist Douglas Spalding. Amberley ruined his parliamentary career by advocating atheism and birth control for women.
Bertrand's mother, Viscountess Amberley was also from an aristocratic family, and was the sister of Rosalind Howard, Countess of Carlisle.
His godfather was John Stuart Mill. The Utilitarian philosopher was Russell's greatest teenage influence .
CHILDHOOD
In June 1874 Bertrand's mother died of diphtheria. A year and a half later, his father died of bronchitis following a long period of depression.
After his parents' premature deaths, Russell and his older brother, Frank, the future 2nd Earl, were raised by their staunchly Victorian grandparents, Lord Russell, the former Prime Minister, and his second wife, the Countess Russell, nee Lady Frances Elliot.
Bertrand also had a sister Rachel who died when he was an infant.
The Countess Russell was from a Scottish Presbyterian family, and her influence on Bertrand's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life.
Young Bertrand was raised as an aristocrat, he was a silent and shy boy.
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| Russell as a four-year-old |
Russell's childhood was very lonely and he often contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that only his keen interest in mathematics seemed to keep him interested in living.
EDUCATION
Bertrand was educated at home by a series of governesses, and he spent countless hours in his grandfather's library.
His brother Frank introduced him to Euclid, which transformed Russell's life.
Bertrand was fascinated by figures but his grandmother did not allow the governesses to teach him maths so he had to study it secretly
Russell studied philosophy and logic at Cambridge University, starting in 1890, where he became acquainted with the younger G.E. Moore, and where he later came under the influence of Alfred North Whitehead. He quickly distinguished himself in mathematics and philosophy.
Russell took Mathematics honors in 1893 and graduated in 1894, surprisingly with only a third.
CAREER
For two years after graduation, Russell lectured in the United States before returning home to a lectureship at the London School of Economics.
In 1907 Russell ran for Parliament as a candidate of the Union of Woman's Suffrage Societies. He lost by 7000 votes.
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| Russell in 1907 |
Three years later, Russell attempted to be adopted as a Liberal candidate but his constituency association refused him when they discovered he was an agnostic.
Russell took up a job as a Maths Lecturer at Trinity College Cambridge in 1910. Until the outbreak of World War 1, Russell was an academic who was revolutionizing the study of mathematics, but due to his vocal opposition to the war he became an outsider and he lost his job in 1914.
In 1920, Russell traveled to Russia and subsequently lectured in Peking (now Beijing) on philosophy for one year. The Chinese loved the British lecturer as he considered the Chinese problems from a Chinese point of view rather than the imperialistic English. His Peking University students even launched a special Russell magazine.
In 1922-23 Russell ran as Labour candidate for Chelsea. However, it was a safe Tory seat and was easily defeated by the Conservative candidate Sir Samuel Hoare.
Throughout the remainder of the 1920s, Russell supported himself during this time by writing popular books explaining matters of physics, ethics and education to the layman.
Russell set up the experimental Beacon Hill School, near Petersfield, Hampshire on 1927, which allowed children complete freedom in expressing and behaving themselves. In other words, rather than repress their feelings they could swear at their teachers etc. At Russell's school there was mixed naked bathing, no punishment and no religious instruction. The school was a failure as mainly unruly children who had been expelled from other schools were sent there.
Upon the death of his elder brother Frank, in 1931, Russell became 3rd Earl Russell. He once said that his title was primarily useful for securing hotel rooms and the like.
In 1938 Russell moved to the United States where he taught at many universities and wrote his History of Western Philosophy.
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| Russell in 1938 |
In the spring of 1939, Russell moved to Santa Barbara to lecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was appointed professor at the City College of New York shortly thereafter, but after public outcries, the appointment was annulled by the courts. Russell returned to Britain in 1944 and he rejoined the faculty of Trinity College.
On December 26, 1948, Bertrand Russell delivered the very first BBC Reith Lecture, launching a tradition that continues to this day. His series of six talks, collectively titled "Authority and the Individual," explored the complex relationship between individual freedom and the various forms of authority present in society.
Russell was awarded the Order of Merit, in the King's Birthday Honours of June 9, 1949. George VI was affable but slightly embarrassed at decorating the controversial freethinker saying, "You have sometimes behaved in a manner that would not do if generally adopted".
WRITINGS
Russell wrote over 40 books.
The three-volume Principia Mathematica, written with AN Whitehead, was published between 1910 and 1913. The work, which explored the relationship between pure maths and logic took them ten years to write. Russell had to pay part of the printing costs himself so convinced was Cambridge University that it had a commercial loser on its hand.
Principia Mathematica became one of the most influential volumes for 20th century intellectuals and along with the earlier The Principles of Mathematics, made Russell world-famous in his field.
Russell included a 360 page proof to show that 1+1=2 in Principia Mathematica. Despite its acknowledged importance in the study of the foundations of math is so complex and obtuse that it is rarely used today.
A History of Western Philosophy was written during Russell's time in the States in the 1940s. A survey of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratic philosophers to the early 20th century, it was a popular and commercial success, and provided Russell with financial security for the last part of his life.
In 1950 Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought". When Russell was awarded the honor, A History of Western Philosophy was cited as one of the books that won him the award.
While never a complete pacifist, Russell called his stance "Relative Pacifism," he held that war was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances (such as when Adolf Hitler threatened to take over Europe) it might be a lesser of multiple evils.
Russell opposed British participation in World War I. Bertrand Russell's pacifist refusal to fight in World War 1 made him an object of ridicule in the press. He spent six months in prison in 1917 for an article he wrote for the No Conscription Fellowship in a journal
Russell recommended in the 1930s that Britain gave up its army, navy, air force and empire as then Hitler would have no need to invade us!
In the years leading to World War II, Russell supported the policy of appeasement; but by 1941 he acknowledged that in order to preserve democracy, Hitler had to be defeated.
Russell advocated nuclear disarmament from 1949. Five years later, Russell made a much acclaimed broadcast "Man's Peril," in which he criticized the Bikini A Toll H bomb tests.
CND was launched in February 1958 with Russell as its first President.
Russell made several absurd pronouncements during campaign for nuclear disarmament that Harold Macmillan and John F Kennedy were murderers for supporting the bomb.
At the height of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, it was in reply to a message from Russell that Nikita Khrushchev revealed the Russian climbdown.
Russell spent a week in Brixton jail in 1961, after persistently obstructing the highway by sitting on it as part of his Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
As a young man, Russell was a member of the Liberal Party and wrote in favor of free trade and women's suffrage.
In his 1910 pamphlet, Anti-Suffragist Anxieties, Russell wrote that some men opposed suffrage because they "fear that their liberty to act in ways that are injurious to women will be curtailed."
Later a Socialist, Russell coined the famous phrase "better red than dead."
Russell had a genuine interest in religion, in which he grew increasingly skeptical. By 1910 he believed only in things that could be proved by experience.
Russell wrote a booklet, Why I'm not a Christian. When asked what he would say to God if he ever met him, Russell replied "I should tell him, that he had not provided me with the necessary evidence".
He was a member of a hard-core of progressive group of the 1920s intent on challenging the established order and influential in bringing in the permissive age.
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| The title page of the shortened Principia Mathematica |
A History of Western Philosophy was written during Russell's time in the States in the 1940s. A survey of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratic philosophers to the early 20th century, it was a popular and commercial success, and provided Russell with financial security for the last part of his life.
In 1950 Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought". When Russell was awarded the honor, A History of Western Philosophy was cited as one of the books that won him the award.
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| Front cover art for the book A History of Western Philosophy. Wikipedia |
PACIFISM
While never a complete pacifist, Russell called his stance "Relative Pacifism," he held that war was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances (such as when Adolf Hitler threatened to take over Europe) it might be a lesser of multiple evils.
Russell opposed British participation in World War I. Bertrand Russell's pacifist refusal to fight in World War 1 made him an object of ridicule in the press. He spent six months in prison in 1917 for an article he wrote for the No Conscription Fellowship in a journal
Russell recommended in the 1930s that Britain gave up its army, navy, air force and empire as then Hitler would have no need to invade us!
In the years leading to World War II, Russell supported the policy of appeasement; but by 1941 he acknowledged that in order to preserve democracy, Hitler had to be defeated.
Russell advocated nuclear disarmament from 1949. Five years later, Russell made a much acclaimed broadcast "Man's Peril," in which he criticized the Bikini A Toll H bomb tests.
CND was launched in February 1958 with Russell as its first President.
Russell made several absurd pronouncements during campaign for nuclear disarmament that Harold Macmillan and John F Kennedy were murderers for supporting the bomb.
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| Russell (centre) alongside his wife Edith, leading a CND anti-nuclear march |
At the height of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, it was in reply to a message from Russell that Nikita Khrushchev revealed the Russian climbdown.
Russell spent a week in Brixton jail in 1961, after persistently obstructing the highway by sitting on it as part of his Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
BELIEFS
As a young man, Russell was a member of the Liberal Party and wrote in favor of free trade and women's suffrage.
In his 1910 pamphlet, Anti-Suffragist Anxieties, Russell wrote that some men opposed suffrage because they "fear that their liberty to act in ways that are injurious to women will be curtailed."
Later a Socialist, Russell coined the famous phrase "better red than dead."
Russell had a genuine interest in religion, in which he grew increasingly skeptical. By 1910 he believed only in things that could be proved by experience.
Russell wrote a booklet, Why I'm not a Christian. When asked what he would say to God if he ever met him, Russell replied "I should tell him, that he had not provided me with the necessary evidence".
He was a member of a hard-core of progressive group of the 1920s intent on challenging the established order and influential in bringing in the permissive age.
Russell was in favour of eugenics, and together with other left-wing British intellectuals endorsed the fashionable idea with rare enthusiasm.
Russell wrote against Victorian notions of morality. His early writings expressed his opinion that sex between a man and woman who are not married to each other is not necessarily immoral if they truly love one another. This might not seem extreme by today's standards, but it was enough to raise vigorous protests and denunciations against him during his first visit to the United States.
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Russell had a slight, lean figure with bright eyes.
He was quiet and retiring but a frightful prig when young and an unprincipled philander when older.
Russell saw everything in black and white, he didn't believe in compromise.
He had a dry, reedy voice.
Russell had a mordant wit.
RELATIONSHIPS
Russell first met the American Quaker, Alyssa Pearsall Smith, when he was seventeen years old. He fell in love with the puritanical, high-minded Alys, who was connected to several educationists and religious activists.
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| Alyssa Pearsall Smith in 1892 |
Russell's grandmother didn't like her so she whipped him off to Paris, and got him a job as Honorary Attaché' there. This didn't suit Russell so he only stayed for a brief time before fleeing home to Alys. They married at Friend's House in London on December 13. 1894.
Their marriage began to fall apart in 1901 when it occurred to Russell, while he was cycling, that he no longer loved Alys.
The couple separated a decade later. Alys pined for him for years and continued to love Russell for the rest of her life. During this period, Russell had passionate affairs with, among others, Lady Ottoline Morrell (half-sister of the 6th Duke of Portland) and the actress Lady Constance Malleson.
Russell first met British author, feminist and socialist campaigner Dora Black in 1916 when they both took part on a weekend walking tour. However, the pair did not embark on a relationship for another three years when Russell invited her to join him during his summer holidays.
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| Dora Black Wikipedia |
Meanwhile his first wife Alys hovered outside to observe Russell's family life with Dora. In 1921, he divorced Alys so he could marry his fellow socialist campaigner.
Dora was a fierce left wing activist and a believer in free love. She reluctantly became Russell's second wife as she was pregnant and Russell wanted to legitimize her. They were married on September 25, 1921 at Battersea Town Hall with Eileen Power and Frank Russell acting as witnesses. Dora who was seven months pregnant with the couple's first child, John, wore black during the ceremony.
Their second child Kate was born in 1923 and Dora later had two more by a live in lover. Russell accepted them and gave his name to them for the sake of protecting his own children.
In 1931 Russell went on a bizarre holiday with Dora, his mistress, Dora's lover, his two children and his wife’s illegitimate baby.
John Conrad Russell later briefly succeeded his father as 4th Earl Russell and Lady Katherine Russell became Lady Katherine Tait.
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| Russell with his children, John and Kate |
Russell's marriage to Dora grew increasingly tenuous, and it reached a breaking point over her adultery with an American journalist. They separated and later divorced.
On January 18, 1936, Russell married his third wife, a vivacious 25 year old redhead Oxford student named Patricia ("Peter") Spence, at the Midhurst register office. She had been his children's governess since 1930.
Russell and Peter had one son, Conrad.
Patricia acted as secretary to Russell. She left him in 1951 after years of Russell's womanizing. The final straw was during an unhappy holiday, when he declared during a picnic "I am as drunk as a Lord but then I am one." The bad tempered Patricia stormed off taking Conrad whom she forbade having any further contact with his father.
In 1952, Russell divorced Peter and later that year on December 15 he married his fourth wife, American writer and biographer Edith Finch. They had known each other since the 1930s after being introduced through her close friend and housemate Lucy Martin Donnelly, who was a friend of Russell's first wife, Alys. Finch moved to England in 1950 and remained with Russell until his death. By all accounts, their relationship was very close and loving throughout their marriage.
The four times married Russell lived out his belief in free love and became a hero to the sixties generation.
His eldest son John was driven into withdrawal, then open hatred followed by schizophrenia.
At Russell’s death he left behind two embittered ex-wives and a son and two granddaughters with schizophrenia.
PERSONAL LIFE
Russell was bought up at his grandparents home at Pembroke Lodge, a Grade II listed Georgian mansion in Richmond Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
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| Childhood home, Pembroke Lodge. By steve, Wikipedia |
From 1955 Russell had a small house called Plas Penrhyn near Portmeirion in North Wales.
Russell liked to eat at a certain cheap cafe that served poor food. He explained the reason he ate there was "because I am never interrupted".
HEALTH
At the age of 16 Russell strained his eyes (which was a blow as he was an avid reader). He was forbidden to read and write so he spent his time recovering learning poetry by heart.
In 1920 Russell had a serious illness in China due to lecturing in cold halls and as a result he refused to grant interviews. The resentful Japanese press (the Japanese were at the time occupying China) carried the news that he has died. On his way home Russell stopped in Japan and the press sought to interview him again. By way of reprisal he had his secretary hand out printed slips to each reporter "since Mr Russell is dead he cannot be interviewed."
Russell was one of 24 survivors of an airplane crash in Hommelvik in October 1948. Russell swam to safety clutching his briefcase whilst 19 people died. He said he owed his life to smoking since the people who drowned were in the non-smoking part of the plane.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH
At age 89, Bertrand Russell was jailed for "breach of peace" for anti-nuclear demonstration.They offered to exempt him from jail if he pledged himself to "good behaviour", to which Russell replied: "No, I won't."
Russell was still active in international peace drives in his mid 90s.
Russell died of influenza on February 2, 1970 at his home in Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales.
He was cremated without ceremony at Colwyn Bay and his ashes were scattered over the Welsh mountains.
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